The Great Wish
by SpoiledSpine
Summary: It was a well known fact amongst Dragons that once every two hundred and fifty years, on a night like the one Toothless was looking up at, a single Dragon could become a human for a year if they so did desire.
1. Day 0: Transformation

_Disclaimer: I don't really own anyone or thing I'm to write about, DreamWorks does and that's all there is to it._

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The sun had just begun to set on the night that was to be the darkest of the month in Berk and the Dragons were restless, as they had been all day. The Vikings didn't know what to make of it, if much at all. When Hiccup, the now unofficial village Dragon Expert and Tamer, didn't know what was happening to make the great beasts behave like fretful rodents, it was assumed that the best thing to do was wait and see what came of it.

As the last rays of sun disappeared from sight, the Vikings began to understand why the Dragons felt that something was just not right. When the sun had vanished over the horizon, the air had started to buzz. It was soft and was not something that was heard so much as felt in their chests. The Vikings of Berk immediately began whispering, wondering what sort of omen the strange, not to be heard humming was. They gathered in their homes, preparing themselves for bed as if something might try to attack them in the night. Axes and swords and shields lay close to beds, boots ready to be flung on if needed, day clothes not even removed. As the village lay down to try and sleep, they tossed and turned for hours after they would have normally fallen into unconsciousness, restlessness now gripping them as it had done to the Dragons.

But sleep they eventually did.

There was one being, one Dragon, however, who was not restless as the others were. He did not twitch and move about in fretfulness of something he could not quite put his finger on. He sat still, deeply breathing in the air around him, looking to the sky, waiting for the right moment. While the others were nervous for the night to begin, this one Dragon's own silent excited anxiety stemmed from _anticipation_ for night to begin. When the little human Hiccup had tried to coax him inside to sleep in the rafters of the house as it had become customary, he had refused and gone back to staring at the sky. Considering how strange the rest of the Dragons had been acting that day, Hiccup hadn't given Toothless' odd behavior a second thought before climbing into his own bed.

The night hummed and buzzed with an unseen power for hours, waiting for the sun.

It was but an hour before dawn that Toothless' body tensed slightly, eyes scanning the sky and nose sniffing the air once more before he began to move away from where he sat by Hiccup's front door. It was time and it would be best if this was done as far away from the village as he could get. Toothless stood, stretching his muscles with a heavy shake of his body and soon after began sprinting to the forest coated mountains and hills that surrounded Berk, careful to pay attention to where he was going. He would need to remember the way back in the morning.

Making his way quickly and lightly, Toothless only stopped once he had reached the top most forest, making a small clearing for himself in the dense woods. He knocked down tree after tree, pulling them up from their roots and tossing them aside until he felt the area large and suitable enough. He sat down once more, looked to the sky, and waited.

Most anyone who would have played spectator at this point would have wondered at the Dragon's strange behavior. Except of course, if you were Dragon yourself, then you would realize what was about to begin and would scamper off as quickly as you could. It is a well known fact amongst nests of Dragons that once every two hundred and fifty years, on a night like the one Toothless was staring up into, one Dragon out of the thousands that existed within each nest could turn into a human for a year if they so did wish. In the last few centuries, the wish had gone unused and wasted in Toothless' nest. With a Queen that needed constant feeding and the war that had sprung up between Vikings and Dragons because of it, there was very little want on any Dragon's part to turn into the form of the very being that was becoming a hindrance to their survival.

But what with the Green Death being destroyed not but six months ago and the understanding that the time of the Great Wish was soon to be upon them, Toothless had been the first to act. Within the following days that their manipulative Queen had been killed and Hiccup had still been in bed asleep, what little time Toothless spent away from Hiccup's side was preoccupied with letting all the other Dragons know one simple thing: _The Great Wish is mine, do not try and take it_.

Through growls, glances, and body language that the humans could not understand, the word had spread amongst the Dragons, _Do not take the Great Wish; the Night Fury claims it this year_.

So, the Dragons had conceded, none defying Toothless' claim on the wish. They knew he, out of all the other Dragons of the nest, was most deserving of it. It had been he that had trusted the human boy, had been the first to allow a human to ride on his back, and had helped show them that humans were not as dumb and violent as they thought. It had been he who had destroyed their tyrant of a Queen. If he wanted to lay claim to the Great Wish, none of them had the right to even consider denying him that. Not when he had done so much for them.

Toothless continued to stare up at dark sky, the stars beginning to fade as morning slowly approached. It would be any moment now, he could feel it in-

But before he could even finish the thought, the energized buzzing that had been building since the morning before reached a sudden crescendo. It was no longer a buzzing but a soft screeching, as if Berk was suddenly invaded by a million flying bees, and Toothless' body tensed tightly in pain. He held in his cries as best he could as his body changed and shifted around him. He whimpered in agony as his bones broke and reset themselves, scales and skin bubbling before they stretched, breaking open wide, changing from something nearly impenetrable to something soft and human.

It was when his skull starting changing shape and his spine started to move of its own accord that he finally let out a deep roar of terrifying proportions. He'd only heard of the pain the Great Wish brought in passing, had never heard it described with the same intensity that he was feeling it. He all but sobbed as he felt his tailbones retracting into his body, felt the muscles and tendons of his wings breaking and collapsing into his back, his claws elongating into fingers and shortened into toes, his paws shrinking into hands and feet, and his four legs growing long and skinny. His muscles burned as they cramped, tearing apart only to put themselves back together underneath his changing form. If Toothless hadn't already been shuddering and shaking from pain, the sounds of snapping bones, popping joints, and gurgling flesh would have done the trick.

The transformation continued on as the sky grew lighter. Toothless' screams reverberated throughout the forest, surely to be heard for miles around. Just as the sun peaked over the horizon, Toothless dimly noted that his voice no longer sounded like a Dragon's deep roar of pain, but something much more like a man's howl of agony. A moment after he made this realization, the pain stopped, he body sagged, and it took all of his might to not pass into unconsciousness. Lying on the grass of the forest floor, chest heaving in deep breaths for several long minutes after the pain had subsided, Toothless dared to open his eyes.

It took his sight a moment to clear, but when it did he found that it was nothing compared to what he was use to. The little clearing he had made in the forest had not yet been graced with any sort of sunshine, but Toothless was surprised by just how bad his new eyesight was. What little light the newly dawned sun of the day provided did next to nothing for his eyes as he stared near blindly into the darkness of the surrounding forest.

All Dragons had some ability to see in the dark, allowing for flight at any time of day, even if that time of day was the pitch blackness of night. But Night Furies were known to have the best eyesight, especially in darkness. To go from having some of the best set of eyes in the world to what he considered, at best, to be mediocre eyesight, was jarring.

Toothless sighed deeply as his breathing evened and he continued to stare into the forest to try and see anything at all. As his eyes adjusted, he could make out the outlines of the trees he had tossed aside earlier, could see what was perhaps a patch of dirt - even that was debatable with the eyes he had now-, but beyond that there was very little else he could make out.

Slowly, Toothless began to try and move. His body ached as if he had fallen from hundreds of feet up in the air and every little movement caused a throbbing ache in his muscles. Carefully, doing his best to ignore the aches and pains, Toothless managed to sit up. His breathing quickened from the exertion, head pounding. He pressed his paws to his temples, trying to silence the pain.

_No, not paws, hands_, he had to remind himself.

Once the heartbeat in his head lessened, he took a moment to look at his hands as best he could. Five digits to each protrusion of flesh, the skin a nut color that he had not seen on any other human in Berk. Tentatively, he brought his fingers to his face, touching features he would not be able to see until he found a pond or looking glass. His fingers met sharp angles and soft skin, the long hair on top of his head, he found, was a similar color to what his scales had been. He opened his mouth curiously, running his no longer forked tongue over teeth that were flat and made for mashing things rather than tearing, fingers reaching into the back to feel slightly raised bumps on the teeth there.

He looked to his feet, wiggling the toes in a confused sort of way, when he heard a voice calling his name from outside the clearing. He would know that voice anywhere, and in his haste to try and meet the person it belonged to, trying to stand and move as he normally would, he all but to fell flat on his face, groaning in pain.

He could still hear Hiccup calling his name, sounding as if he was walking blindly through the forest with no idea where to go. Toothless so wanted to go to him, but could not even find the coordination to stand on his two newly made feet. He felt his face contort in an expression he'd seen Hiccup wear when frustrated, and pondered what to do.

Quickly coming to an idea that he deemed suitable, Toothless licked his dry lips, opened his mouth, and tried to make a sound.

"Hhhhhhh." was the only soft sound to come out. He took a breath, preparing to try again.

"Hhhhhiiiccc." He had managed to wrap his tongue around the first half of the word he wanted to say, mouth tightening into what Hiccup had called a grin, proud of the accomplishment.

He breathed deeply again, preparing for a third try.

"Hhhhiiiiccccuuuuupp." He managed in a drawl, forming the word with his clumsy tongue. His grin broadened into a smile, and he breathed deeper than he had the previous times, his intent to now be heard by the boy.

"Hhhiicccuuppp!" He yelled to the morning sky.

He heard Hiccup stop calling his name, making Toothless smile even wider; he knew the boy had heard him.

"Hhhiicccuuupp! Hiccuuuppp! Hiccup! Heeerrrrrreeeee, Hiccup!" Toothless yelled as loudly as his already hoarse voice would let him, managing a 'here' amongst all his yells of Hiccup's name.

It was then that he heard the hurried, clumsy footsteps of the boy he had befriended crashing through the forest and into the clearing. The forest was still dark even as the sun climbed higher into the sky, so it was no surprise to Toothless that the boy had tumbled his way into the clearing with a lantern in hand, almost putting it out when he fell to the ground, his sense of balance not what most people would call 'good'. Toothless' face was suddenly pulled into a frown when he noticed the way Hiccup sat where he had fallen, rubbing absentmindedly at where the remainder of his leg met wood and metal. Had he hurt himself trying to get through the forest? Why was no one else with him?

Toothless, once again in his attempt to see the boy, made to stand up, this time managing to stand shakily on his legs before crashing to the ground again with a loud moan of pain.

"Who's there?" Hiccup called, trying and failing to conceal the fear and suspicion in his voice.

"Hiccup!" Toothless cried again in his low human voice, sitting up once more.

Hiccup stood still, holding the lantern far in front of him, trying to illuminate his surroundings as best as he could.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" the boy asked again, eyes darting around the clearing in a way that told Toothless that the other boy had yet to spot him.

"Here Hiccup."

At those words, Hiccup looked his way, finally catching sight of him.

"Who are you?" he asked again, cautiously limping towards him.

Toothless licked his lips, trying his best to speak.

"Tttooooottthhhh…" he said with a frown.

In response, Hiccup cocked an eyebrow and looked at him as if he were insane. The worst part about it all was that he knew Hiccup had every right to look at him like that, he sounded down right ridiculous. He sighed, bringing his feet underneath him, and again stood slowly and unsteadily, like a new born lamb.

At his movement, he saw Hiccup quickly whip out his dagger, brandishing it.

"Tell me who you are right now or I'll…I'll-!" Hiccup didn't finish the sentence, deciding it would be a better idea to brandish the dagger with more gusto then before. The newly turned Dragon smiled awkwardly, still not use to the way the muscles of his face now moved, before he attempted again to tell the smaller boy who he was.

"Tttoootthhhllleesss." He finally managed, pointing the fingers of his hands to his chest.

He could see Hiccup blink for a moment, confused.

"What did you say? What'd you say your name was?" Hiccup asked, the hand holding the dagger dropping to his side.

"Toothless." He said, confidence growing as he said his own name perfectly in the human tongue. It really wasn't so hard once you said the word a few times.

Out of the two things that happened next, Toothless wasn't sure which one surprised him more: the fact that Hiccup's eyes seemed to grow twice their size in what he recognized as realization or that soon after this look passed over his face his knees shook violently for a moment before the boy fell down, face first, into the dirt.

* * *

Author's note: After reading quit a few stories on this particular section of this site, I began to notice something. A rather large portion of the stories involve Toothless becoming a human so he can fall in love with Hiccup and have sex with him or something along those lines.

The one thing that bothers me most about these stories is that Toothless changing into a human is never very well done, in that it happens quickly and no one ever seems taken aback by it and Toothless tends to shrug it off with something along the lines of "It's something all dragons can just do". Well, I'm going to try and see if I can't come up with something that I at least find plausible...and no, Toothless will not be falling in love with Hiccup and wanting desperately to get into his pants. Why, you ask? Because, I like the friendship that was established between them too much to mess around with it, that's why.

I'll see how well of a response this first chapter gets before deciding if I should continue this or not, or leave it just as is. Toodles.


	2. Day 1: Explanation

_Disclaimer: I don't really own anyone or thing I'm to write about, DreamWorks does and that's all there is to it._

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Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was awakened by the sound of a terrifyingly familiar, far off scream.

It wasn't a cry that was anywhere near to what you would have called human, but he would still know that deep, loud screech of pain anywhere. Before he even realizes what he's doing, he'd thrown a fur lined coat over the day time clothes he hadn't bothered taking off the night before, quickly strapped his fake limb on, and thrown a boot onto his remaining foot. He lights a lantern and is out of his home, running as quickly as his legs can carry him through the still dark morning. He hardly notices that others in the village have been stirred by the dreadful sound, some calling to him from barely cracked front doors, questioning him with some of the most mundane questions: what was going on, what was that noise, where was he going?

Hiccup doesn't bother to stop; his lungs were burning too much already to offer answers anyways. He ran, prosthetic leg carrying him faster than it ever had in the last six months that he'd had it. But then again, he hadn't heard Toothless cry out in pain like this since he had first struck him out of the sky with the catapulted bola what felt like a lifetime ago.

Hiccup bites his lip in worry as yet another sound of agony reaches his ears and he pushes himself to somehow go even faster. He's followed the heartbreaking sounds into the forest, his way now continually blocked with roots and tree branches and it's this that slows him down to a stumbling walk. It was hard enough for him to try and traverse uneven ground during the daytime, but in the cool darkness of the morning, Hiccup was finding it to be nearly impossible. He curses his own clumsiness as a fallen bit of tree trips up his mismatched feet, causing him to almost drop his lantern, a painful scrape across his palm left in its wake.

As the sound of yet another screech fills the darkness, Hiccup carefully picks himself back up, ignoring the steady ache that is now building in his amputated limb. He continues to climb the dark forest hills, fear and worry growing in his chest with each echoing cry of pain he hears.

"I'm coming buddy!" he calls to the woods at one point, not sure if he's actually trying to console the still far off Dragon or himself.

Hiccup plowed as best as he could through the foliage, the terrifying sounds Toothless was making acting as his only guide. It's when he's nearing where the Dragon had to be, for the cries and whimpers were louder than ever before, that the noises suddenly change. In one disturbing moment, the deep cry morphs from something animalistic and savage to the scream of a man in equally matched pain, the sound of it just as awful to listen to. As suddenly as the change had happened, the screaming stopped all together and the forest grew quite; far, far too quiet for Hiccup's liking.

"Toothless?" Hiccup calls softly, not sure if he really wanted to break the eerie silence that had fallen over his surroundings.

He begins to move again, slowly and as softly as he can manage, towards where he heard the last cry sound.

"Toothless?" He calls again, a little bit louder than before.

The panic that had been seeded in his gut the moment he had heard that first cry of pain in bed was beginning to take root, turning his blood and veins cold as worst case scenarios played through his mind. What would have made his great Dragon screech in such agony? Why had the cries stopped so suddenly? What if his friend had been silenced forever? What if he was dea-

Hiccup won't let himself finish the terrible thought, it was something too awful to even imagine. That his friend, his first and most dear friend, might not even be alive by the time he got to him was, in a few words, soul crushing. Surely, the Gods wouldn't be so cruel as to do such a thing to him, right? Hiccup shakes his head, as if the action would clear his mind, and begins to call for Toothless once more.

"Toothless! Hey buddy, where are you?"

His voice echoes through the forest around him, but there's nothing else in response.

"You got to let me know where you are bud! I can't help you if I can't find you." He calls out again, his voice beginning to quake in what he does not want to admit is fear. When his calls are answered, yet again, with silence, he loses any semblance of control he had over his emotions.

"Toothless! Please answer me buddy! Toothless! Toothless where are you? TOOTHLESS!" He's now the one screeching, blindly crashing through the thick branches, so desperate to hear something, anything, respond to his calls.

"Toothless, please! I'm begging you here bud, make a noise so I can find you! Toothless!"

Just as he's about ready to go mad with worry and fear for his friend's wellbeing, he hears a response to his calls.

"Hhhiicccuuppp!"

Stumbling a bit in surprise, Hiccup turns to where the voice had called. It was definitely human, that much he was sure of. But there was something about it, a part of its tenor, something that was low and rumbled, that sounded ridiculously familiar. Familiar in that the low, rumbling quality the voice had to was something that he'd only ever heard from his Dragon.

"Hhhiicccuuupp! Hiccuuuppp! Hiccup! Heeerrrrrreeeee, Hiccup!" Hiccup stumbles again, this time in his haste to chase after the voice before the forest fell silent again.

As the last echo of the voice faded, he finds that he's all but tumbled into a small clearing, falling onto his backside in the most ungraceful of ways, almost putting out his lantern for a third time that morning. He sat there for a second, his attention on his surroundings as he rubbed at where what was left of his leg was joined with metal and wood. Maybe, he muses, he'd pushed himself a little bit too much. The leg was beginning to hurt much more than usual.

At the sound of someone groaning in pain somewhere off to his right -or left, it was hard to make sense of things when it was still so dark-,he stops rubbing his leg and gets back on his feet, holding the lantern high.

"Who's there?" he asked, trying his best to keep his voice steady.

"Hiccup!" came the hoarse voice once more, the excited tinge to it confusing Hiccup.

Did this person know him?

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" he asked, squinting his eyes and looking about the clearing, trying desperately to see who he was exactly talking to.

"Here Hiccup."

It was at this moment that Hiccup's eyes finally focused in on the person speaking to him, not but ten feet away.

"Who are you?" he asked again, edging towards the person, trying to get a better look at their face.

From what he could see with what little light his lantern and morning sunrise was providing, the other boy's skin was darker then what he had ever seen before, his hair black and long enough to reach just past his shoulders. Hiccup didn't look any further from his chest down, for decency purposes, considering the other boy seemed to be bare butt naked. All in all, Hiccup couldn't help but feel that he was witnessing something rather ridiculous.

'_He can't be much older then me.' _Hiccup thought at one point, noticing that, despite the fact that the boy's face was well one it's way to turning itself into that of a man's, there was still a softness to it that spoke of baby fat yet to be lost, much like his own still wore.

"Tttooooottthhhh…" the boy answered his previous question or, Hiccup could only assume, at least tried to.

Hiccup stared at him, utterly taken aback by the sheer nonsense that had come out of the other's mouth. He wanted to laugh at the situation, really he did. It was all just too funny to not want to. He let those humor tinged thoughts go though when the strange boy, on unsteady legs, stood from where he had been sitting. Hiccup was quick to take out the small dagger that he kept on him at all times, brandishing it in what he hoped was a threatening sort of way.

"Tell me who you are right now or I'll…I'll-!" he said, opting to simply brandish his dagger more when he couldn't come up with something that he might do to the boy.

Despite the fact that he was now considered a great hero, Hiccup was still not exactly what you would call a good Viking.

The other boy did not speak for a moment and instead gave a silly looking, lopsided smile. Again, Hiccup was struck by just how damn _familiar_ the gesture was. Even though he knew it was only familiar because of his Dragon, not some strange, naked boy in the middle of the woods. Said strange boy at this point seemed to deem it a good moment to try and tell Hiccup who he was again.

"Tttoootthhhllleesss." He finally managed, his hands gesturing to his chest.

Hiccup stopped breathing for a second and slowly blinked. Had…had he just called himself _Toothless_?

"What did you say? What'd you say your name was?" he found himself asking without a conscious thought, slowly letting the hand that held the dagger drop to his side.

"Toothless." The other boy answered, tilting his head slightly in yet another disturbingly familiar fashion.

Hiccup held the lantern out the slightest bit more, bringing more light onto the other boy and his features. The warm, flickering little flame cast a glow on his face, making Hiccup focus on the boy's strange eyes. They were much bigger than any eyes he'd seen on a human face before, almost to the point of looking too large for his head. The abnormally huge irises were a bright green-yellow color, the black of his pupils almost overbearing in their perfect roundness. When he saw those eyes, the same eyes he'd come to know so well as belonging to his best friend, some little voice in the back of his head started talking to him nervously.

'_Well, I guess it makes sense, if you've gone crazy that is. To think, Toothless becoming a human, what a laugh! Everyone in the village will sure to be in stitches when I wake up and tell them about it. Oh boy, it'll be worth at least a few days of jokes. Oh Gods, what a funny dream…oh boy…'_

But the more and more he looked at those eyes, those damn too familiar eyes, the more he began to seriously wonder exactly what in the name of Thor was going on. When he found his legs giving out on him and that his face had crashed into the ground, the only sensible thing that passed through his mind was that, at least, the pain was sure to wake him from the truly messed up dream he was having.

* * *

Stoick the Viking wasn't usually one to worry out right about much of anything. His policy on most matters where that if it didn't take care of itself, he'd just force them to do so with a majestic, powerful punch to the figurative -and sometimes not so figurative- face. But when he's roused in the early hours of the morning by a truly awful noise, it's something he knows that won't take care of itself, that he'll probably have to go punch it a few times to fix.

He's up and about as quickly as someone his size can manage, fur cape and boots thrown on with speed most wouldn't have expected from him. He's out the door a minute later, the sound of a far off beast screaming in pain much more poignant once he was outside.

It took him twenty minutes to gather a group of some of the finest fighters in the village and plan a 'search and destroy' party. It takes him another three to realize that his son is missing, two more to be told that he'd been seen running to the woods where the cries were coming from, and another thirty seconds to find out that his son's Dragon hadn't been with him. That, in and of itself, was just not something that happened. The creature had not been seen without Hiccup, and vise-versa, since the boy had come back to the village a hero.

"The only thing that would have separated those two is probably something that sounds like that." Gobber quipped in, shrugging a shoulder to the woods where the terrible screeches were coming from.

It took another twenty seconds for Stoick to declare that the 'search and destroy' party would be changed to a 'search and rescue' mission. He had never heard Hiccup's Dragon cry like that and he desperately hoped his son didn't meet whatever was making him do so.

* * *

Unluckily for Hiccup, there was no reassurance for him to find in the fact that he was dreaming because, well, he wasn't. When he had oh so elegantly smacked himself with the ground, he had been expecting the typical jarring wake up call that usually came with a dream that ended with you falling to the ground.

Sadly enough, no such thing happened, and all Hiccup was left with was a pain filled face and a very confused sense of logic.

"Hiccup?" he heard Toothless –_that can't really be him_, his logic says- ask.

He hears the sound of clumsy feet shuffling the short distance towards him, soft groans of pain accompanying it. Soon after, there's the _thud_ of someone sitting on the ground too quickly, and a soft yelp of surprise.

A couple seconds of silence pass and Hiccup notices that he can hear birds chirping in a nearby tree.

"Hiccup?" the voice asks again, a hand tentatively touching the back of his head.

He groans, slowly rolls himself onto his back, and looks up at the face that couldn't possibly belong to Toothless.

"I'd _really_ like to know when this dream is going to stop. The sooner the better, honestly." Hiccup says to no one in particular, rubbing at his face with the palms of his hands, hissing when he accidentally hit the scrape he'd forgotten the forest had given him.

"Ddddd…Drreeeeaa…Dddrrreeaammm?" the dark haired boy managed to ask after a few tries.

"Yeah, a dream, like something that you see in your mind when you're asleep. Mine aren't usually this weird, but you know, now that I think about it, that salmon last night tasted a bit different."

The boy above him just tilts his head in a questioning manner once more and it's then that Hiccup knows he has no idea what he's talking about. Hiccup looks up at him from he's laying, sighs, and sits up to meet the other boy face to face.

"So", he says after a pause, "since I'm apparently not dreaming like I thought I was, I'm going to have to try and figure this out. I'm not sure why reality decided to go and contradict itself, but I don't exactly have a choice in all this, now do I? So, you say your name is Toothless, right?"

The other boy only nods.

"Like the Dragon Toothless, the Night Fury with a missing left tailfin, big green-yellow eyes, and a love of raw fish?"

Another nod.

"So, you're my Dragon, Toothless, except you're…human?"

The dark haired boy nods with another lopsided smile.

"Would you, uh, mind trying to explain how that even happens? Because the last time I checked, which was sometime last night before going to bed, Dragons stayed Dragons and humans stayed humans."

Toothless opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, and closed it once more, seeming to be lost for words. It's at this moment that Hiccup realized that the other boy had been shivering, for Gods only knew how long, and he almost wants to smack his own forehead for his stupidity. If it was still cool enough in the morning for him to want a fur lined coat, despite the fact that the spring season was almost in full swing, of course someone who was naked would be feeling a bit cold. Before the Dragon boy could open his mouth to try and answer his friend's question once more, Hiccup had stood up and shrugged the great coat off his body.

"Actually, hold onto that thought for a bit. We should probably get back to the village and get some clothes on you before you accidentally freeze any toes off or something." Hiccup said, motioning for Toothless to stand.

The Dragon boy complied, slowly rising to his feet, Hiccup quickly tossing the coat over him as he did so. Toothless, after several tries, managed to thread his arms through the sleeves, snuggling into the warmth of coat with a contented sigh. While it had been big on Hiccup, it was almost too small for Toothless' human body. But still, the warmth and cover it provided from the cool air was most appreciated. Slowly, the duo made their way out of the clearing and down through the forest. The sun had risen enough now that the forest was lit with a soft glow, making the descent much easier than the ascent had been in Hiccup's humble opinion.

"They're never going to believe this back in the village. I'm supposed to be the open-minded one and I'm not even sure I really believe this." Hiccup mumbles to himself, steadying the other boy when his footing was less than perfect.

At this particular moment, the sound of several large Vikings crashing their way through the woods in their direction met Hiccups ears. Seconds later, his father's large form emerged from the foliage, along with a least ten others. His face brightened when he saw Hiccup and faltered when he, Hiccup could only assume, caught sight of the other boy.

"Hiccup, what is this?" the Viking chief asks, gesturing to the dark haired youth.

Hiccup had to admit, wandering around in the woods with a darker skinned boy who was only clad in a too small coat was a little strange.

"Hey dad, uh, I know this is going to sound a bit nuts, I don't really understand it myself, but, um, I think this boy might be Toothless. Maybe. Big possibility there."

The look that his father wore was one he had seen many a times. It was confusion mixed with suspicion and down right bewilderment.

"What?" is all he asks.

"Yeah, like I said I'm not exactly sure either, considering this whole thing seems pretty crazy and since he can't talk very well I haven't really asked him much. I was thinking we would go back to the village and figure this out, considering he's got nothing on except a coat, and it's still cold outside. I'd at least like to discuss this whole crazy morning by a fire where I'm assured the cold isn't making me hallucinate."

Stoick just gives him another confused look, shrugs, and turns to the other Vikings.

"You heard him, back to the village."

Hiccup had grown fond of the fact that his father had put a lot more trust in what he said within the last six months, especially when it involved something this absolutely crazy.

* * *

It was late afternoon by the time Hiccup was finally able to discern what had happened to his Dragon in the early hours of that morning. This was mostly because Toothless continually had to pause and not only think of the words he wanted to use, but had to try and wrap his tongue around them before he could say them in a way that could be understood. After the first thirty minutes, his father and the few other high ranking Vikings that had joined them were all out of patience, and had begun to demand that the Dragon boy "just spit it out already". Needless to say, the look that had come over Toothless' face was probably meant to pass on a message of acid like anger, but ended up making him look more like he'd just eaten something sour.

It had taken all of Hiccup's willpower not to laugh at this.

After that though, Hiccup had none too subtlety suggested that maybe it would be best if his father and the others went about their day while he spoke to Toothless. Alone. They were more than happy to comply. It was a known fact that Hiccup had always been different from his Viking peers and this was no exception. While most other Vikings had an amount of patience that was comparative to a shallow puddle, Hiccup's in comparison was more like an ocean.

A morning and afternoon's worth of talking finished, Hiccup looked at the pages of notes he had taken in the hours that he had slowly questioned the Dragon boy, said being now in a slightly catatonic half sleep phase that he could only assume was due to the long day he'd had.

"Now, let me just make sure I'm getting this straight buddy. Every two hundred and fifty years, on the night of the new moon during the beginning of spring time, one Dragon from every Dragon's nest can turn into a human for a year if they want to?"

Toothless nodded, his large acid green eyes staring at a far wall of the Haddock household.

"And this year, you decided you'd be the Dragon to become a human. Is that right?"

Again, another nod.

"And that's what we were hearing this morning, you changing from a Dragon to…this?" Hiccup asked, gesturing to Toothless' new, and now less naked, form.

Another nod was his answer.

Hiccup sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin for several contemplative minutes. It's only when he hears a soft snoring from the floor does he pay attention to anything again. He's quick to take a peak under the table, finding the Dragon boy fast asleep, curled up as best as his new body would let him, in yet again a familiar fashion.

Ok, so maybe he did believe him, despite the truth of the situation apparently relying on an old Dragons' tradition that no human had ever heard of. If there was one being in the whole world that he knew best, that would be Toothless, even if he wasn't in the same form he'd been the day before. And, even if every logical bone in his body was still desperately trying to tell him that this boy could not be the _Dragon_ he claimed to be, his heart knew that it was true. Then again, a year ago those same logical bones had been trying to tell him that killing Dragons was in his nature, he just hadn't gotten it quite down yet. Anyways, it would only be for a year. That wouldn't be a big hassle to deal with. The only daunting thing left to try and do was convince the rest of the village of the same thing.

Hiccup already knew that trying to do such a thing, in of itself, would be a progressive up hill battle.

* * *

Author's note: Wow, this story got such a warm welcome! Thank you all for your lovely reviews, I do so appreciate them. If ya'll wouldn't mind, could you let me know how my characterization is so far, I always worry about that sort of thing with a story. Hope you've enjoyed it so far!


	3. Day 6: Meetings

_Disclaimer: I don't really own anyone or thing I'm to write about, DreamWorks does and that's all there is to it._

* * *

In the large Dinning Hall of Berk, there was a meeting of high importance going on. Those that had not been invited seemed to be, if you were an outsider looking in, going about their day as per usual. But if you were to look carefully, you would notice that many of those who had not been asked to attend the meeting walked closer to the building than they necessarily needed to, that they lingered by the closed doors a little while longer then they should have.

But, the people of Berk were proud and had very pronounced stubbornness issues. If you had asked any one of the many people who attempted to listen in on the meeting, if you had dared to say they were eavesdropping, they would have denied it, probably to the point of swearing on the name of their dead mother.

Really, Vikings were very strange people.

But, try as they might to listen in, the meeting in the Dinning Hall was not one that would lead to yelling or raised voices or any sort of sound that would have traveled out those doors. It was quite and controlled, something unheard of for the likes of a Viking. Then again, the situation this particular meeting was addressing was something that was not normal Viking territory. It was something that no one in the room ever thought they would have to be faced with. Honestly, most if not all of them didn't even have a proper amount of imagination to come up with such a strange predicament or the explanation that Hiccup was giving for it.

On one side of one of the long tables and benches that filled the hall sat Stoick, the Elder, and the other few high ranking Vikings of the village. On the other side, facing the somewhat ominous, bulky adults was Hiccup and a boy. The boy was not someone that had been seen in the village before the cries of a Dragon had been heard from the forest not but six days ago. His hair was so dark that it nearly put nighttime to shame, eyes too big with an unnatural green-yellow color to them. His skin was the color of a nut and he had the face of a boy just on the doorsteps of manhood, yet already stood as tall as Stoick's nose. Any other Viking teen they had ever seen that had grown to be that tall at such a young age was usually lanky and skinny, body waiting for muscles to fill it in. But this boy, you could see it even under the too big clothes that dressed him, was already nothing but lean muscles flexing underneath skin with his every movement.

Needless to say, the Vikings were very wary about this boy and the strange circumstances that surrounded his sudden appearance in their village.

"So, Hiccup", Spitelout, Snotlout's equally dimwitted father, began almost as soon as Hiccup had finished his explination "you mean to tell us that that boy there is actually your Dragon?"

Hiccup frowned at the tone the man was using. Being talked down to was something very familiar to him, but he had at least hoped that people wouldn't feel the need to use it quite so much with him anymore. Apparently he was wrong.

"Yes, I do. Look, I know all of this is beyond strange and I honestly didn't even really believe it to begin with. But you have to trust me, everything I've said is true; it's all too crazy for anyone to have made up anyways."

"How do we know that this boy isn't a spy from another Viking tribe or something and just wants us to _think_ he's your Dragon in a human guise?" Another says, sitting back after he'd finished, a smug look plastered on his face. Apparently, he had thought the statement to be pure genius.

"Uh, ok, assuming you're in the right here, then where's the real Toothless? Are the spies hiding him in the woods somewhere? Did they lure him there with a sack of fish or something? Please, tell me, what do you think happened to him?" Hiccup said in a more irritated tone then he had intended. Really, sometimes the adults of the village were just not smart at all. The man opens his mouth to speak once more, smug grin replaced with an angry frown, when Stoick unabashedly interrupts him.

"It's just too much of a coincidence that this strange lad shows up at the same time your Dragon disappears Hiccup. If we were to just know for a fact that it's not anything else but what you say it is, then there wouldn't be so much suspicion about the whole thing."

"Yeah, and he can't even talk!" the Viking with the spy theory piped in, pointing to the dark haired boy.

"I _can _speak. How do you think Hiccup could have told you about all of this if I had not told him first?" The strange boy, Toothless, says without missing a beat, crossing his arms in a way Hiccup knew the Dragon boy had seen Stoick do.

Hiccup smiled to himself at Toothless' near perfect speech. Near perfect only because of the way the natural rise and fall of his voice put inflections on words that didn't need them. He knew Toothless had been working none stop since he had awoken from his nap that very first day to learn how to say as many human words as possible. He'd spoken to Hiccup as much as he could, slowly building a vocabulary of words he could say properly with each little conversation they had. Hiccup wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he had also overheard Toothless speaking to himself on occasion, sounding out words slowly and carefully. He knew the Dragon wanted to be understood when he spoke. Though, there was also the strong possibility that he just didn't want to have to repeat the same incident on his first day as a human where Stoick had grown so impatient with his slow speech that he'd verbally snapped at the dark skinned boy.

Hiccup turned his attention back to the conversation just as the man who had already made a complete fool out of himself opened his mouth to yet again fill the world with his nuggets of intellect. Before he could even get a sound out though, the Elder interrupted him.

"That is quite enough Yongurd." She said softly.

The man, Yongurd, shut his mouth at once, a grim expression spreading over his features.

"Young Hiccup, I thank you for coming here today with your strange friend and explaining his odd predicament to us. Seeing how it is indeed a fact that he can talk for himself though, I would like to speak with him without you by his side."

Hiccup frowned and sighed. There was no going against the Elder's finale words; if she told you to do something, you did it, end of story. She'd been alive much too long to not be given the respect that she deserved. Even his great father, stubbornly thick-headed and all, would change his very next meal if the Elder thought it was the right thing to do. But leaving Toothless to fend for himself when he'd been a human for only a few days? He didn't much like the idea.

"Go on Hiccup, I can prove to them that this is truth." Toothless said with a progressively less awkward looking smile, snapping the boy from his thoughts with his somewhat broken speech.

Hiccup simply smiles back and slowly makes his way to the overly large doors. Opening them, he has to shield himself from the glare the rare sunshine was casting. It had been early morning when he, his father, and Toothless –wearing some of Stoick's much older, rather large clothing- trudged down to the Dinning Hall, fully aware that even the few people that had been out and about had been staring at them.

Once he's closed the door behind him, he sits right outside of it, assured that the spot would let him know best when those inside were done talking. He just hoped no one decided to swing the doors outward as they left.

Hiccup sits there for several minutes before he notices something rather peculiar. Many of his fellow Vikings were staring at him as they went about their own business, or at least attempted to look like they were. He gives every single one of them a deadpan look, eyebrow arched in a silent way of asking them what exactly they were looking at. He doesn't stop this until those that had been staring go back to worrying about their daily lives, instead of just pretending to.

Hiccup sighs quietly, folds his knees, hugs them to his chest, and rests his chin on them, relaxing for the first time since he'd gotten up that morning.

"So, Hiccup, wanna' tell us what's going on in there?"

'_So much for relaxing.' _Hiccup thinks as Snotlout and Tuffnut seem to appear out of nowhere and crouch down next to him. They had gotten very good at randomly appearing wherever he was in the last few days when he was out and about.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here?"

"We just came to get the low down on what happened in the forest a few days ago, you know, simple stuff." Snotlout says with a grin.

"Yeah, we would have been in there with you and all, but they seemed to realize that we had superiorly important business to attend to this morning and knew they couldn't invite us when are schedules were so full." Tuffnut absentmindedly picks his nose as he says this.

"Right, good to know guys." Hiccup said with a roll of the eyes. He's gotten use to them trying to weasel information out of him at this point, what with the near week's worth of practice they had already put him through.

There's a long pause as the two larger boys stare at him, Hiccup doing his best to ignore them.

"So, you gonna' tell us what's going on in there?" One of them asks.

"Uh, hey, let me think about that for a second…no. No, no I won't."

"Come on Hiccup, we want to know for the sake of just knowing stuff to know it, you know?" Snotlout cried, grabbing one of Hiccup's small shoulders.

"Yeah, don't you think this village's most deadly weapon needs to be up to date on everything that's going on in and around it?" Tuffnut says; the look on his face so serious it makes Hiccup almost laugh.

"You'd be doing everyone a favor by at least letting him know; being a deadly weapon is a serious job that has-" Snotlout stops at this point, but only because the door behind them swings outwards, knocking all three of the boys forward into the ground.

"Oh, Hiccup. I am sorry for that." Hiccup hears just before the back of his shirt is yanked upwards and he's easily placed back upright on his mismatched feet. Hiccup brushes a few flakes of dirt from the fur of his vest and looks to his best friend.

"So, what'd they say?"

"That I may stay." Toothless says simply, looking around at the other Vikings of the village. They had all stopped whatever it was the may have been doing before, frozen in place, staring at him with wide eyes. Every single pair of eyes that had a clear view of him stared in his direction, and Toothless found that he was honestly almost unnerved by it.

"Why are they looking at us like this Hiccup?" The Dragon boy asks in an attempted whisper.

Hiccup gives the frozen crowd of people a sweeping glance and has to resist the urge to gulp in concern.

"I'm pretty sure they're looking at you bud." he whispers back.

"Could you make them stop?"

"No, not likely."

"Hey, uh, Hiccup, who's your friend there?" Hiccup's attention is drawn back to Snotlout and Tuffnut when the latter breaks the quiet that had doused itself over the rest of the village.

"Yeah, I'd love to tell you that, but, uh-"

Hiccup is more than happy by the fact that he's interrupted by his father banging open the Mess Hall doors with a resounding cry of "People of Berk!"

"People of Berk", Stoick's voice booms again, brining all attention onto himself, "six days and five nights ago, we were all awakened by a most hideous of noises. Today, I can tell you without a doubt what made that great and terrible sound!"

It's at this point that he saunters over to stand right beside Toothless, the Dragon boy giving him a very odd look as he did so.

"This boy here is no ordinary human my friends. As hard as it may be to believe, you must know that I speak the truth when I say that this boy was my own son's Dragon but a few short days ago. It was his transformation from beast to man that we heard in that early morning hour not so long ago."

Already Hiccup can hear the whispers of confusion and suspicion sounding from the rest of the Vikings, making the pit of his stomach feel as if it were about to drop. He knew they didn't believe his father.

"The Elder herself has giving him her blessing to stay here and live among us. It will be but for only a year that he will maintain this form and I hope you can accept him as you would a long lost brother. That is all."

The pit of Hiccup's stomach rights itself at the mere mention of the Elder's blessing. If she believed them and wanted Toothless to stay, no one would dare voice an opinion otherwise.

"Hiccup," Stoick says so quietly that he can barely hear him, despite their proximity, "can you take yourself and Toothless back up to the house for the rest of the day?"

"Yeah dad, any particular reason for it?"

Stoick looked over his shoulder towards some of the still weary faces of the villagers.

"There're still some people that need convincing of who Toothless really is son, and I think it might be best if he weren't out in the open for the rest of the day."

Stoick need say no more as Hiccup gave a great, if completely fabricated, yawn.

"Oh man, look at the sun, I'm thinking it's high time for a nap, don't you think so Toothless?"

Before the poor Dragon boy, or anyone who'd heard Hiccup's lame escape excuse, could even respond, he had grabbed at one of Toothless' sleeves and was leading him away from the main part of the village, many sets of eyes watching them go. His father had said to take Toothless back to the house; he had never said anything about trying to make what he was doing subtle.

"Why do they stare at me like that?" Toothless asks once they're out of earshot of anyone else.

"Aren't you used to it now though bud? They stared at you for weeks after Dragons had first come to live here."

"It…it is different this time, I think. Before this I could barely even feel their glances and stares. Now it is as if I their eyes are bearing into the backside of my neck like a sharp thorn. It is not a very comfortable feeling."

"Give it some time Toothless. They'll warm up to this new you in a heartbeat, I'm sure of it."

The walk back up to the house is a quiet one, nothing but the sound of their footfalls filling the air.

"So, um, I've been wondering about this for the last few days and I got to ask you, but why would a Dragon ever want to be a human?" Hiccup breaks the silence as they near the front door.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you think about it, what reason does a Dragon have with wanting to be a human? We're not as fast or as strong. We can't breathe fire and we certainly can't fly. So, why does this Great Wish of yours exist anyways, if you've got everything a human doesn't and more?"

Toothless steps into the house before closing the door quietly, deep in thought for a moment.

"It is true that a man is different from a Dragon in many ways. You have no way to take flight, you have a hard time protecting yourself, and the skin that covers your whole body can not even stand up against fire. But, I do not think the Great Wish is so simple in the way that you say. It changes our shape, but it is meant to be much more about the act of learning about mankind than anything else, I think. Dragons are curious folk, and the greatest mystery that we have ever come upon, I think, is mankind."

"So, what better way to get to know what you're curious about then to turn into it, right?" Hiccup asks, beginning to understand what Toothless was trying to say.

"Yes. In a form like this with its soft flesh and flightless body, it is much easier to interact with a man than it ever would be in the form I was born into."

Hiccup nods.

"I can see how that makes sense."

Silence falls again and Toothless begins to occupy himself by stroking the embers of the fireplace with the black iron poker. He'd learned his lesson the first time when he had tried to touch them with his hands; he'd not gotten very close when his hand had drawn back instinctively in pain. To say in the least, it had surprised him.

"So why _did_ you decide to change this time?"

"Because if I did not, the next time the Great Wish would have come, you would be long dead Hiccup."

"Why would you change your form because of that? What does my death have anything to do with it?"

"If you were to die before I could become a human, I would not get to speak to you as we are now. Is that not a good enough reason to do what I did? To want to speak to a good friend in a language he can understand?"

Hiccup is stunned by the Dragon boy's words.

"No, that's not it. I was just thinking you might have had some grand reason for going through all that pain to become human." Hiccup says in a stumbling sort of way, amazed that the Dragon would go thruough such pain to just be able to properly speak to him.

"There is very little that humans can do that Dragons can not, you have said so yourself. Speaking in a way that you can understand, Hiccup, is one of the only things I can think of that a Dragon can not do that a man can. Why would I try to wait another two hundred and fifty years to speak with you as I am able to rigth now? Humans can not even live that long of a while, am I not right?" Toothless finished, large green-yellow eyes bearing into Hiccup's with a strange, unthreatening intensity.

"No, that's true Toothless. Humans can't live that long."

A slightly uncomfortable silence falls over the pair before Toothless perks up once more, a question flying off his tongue.

"Why do your people here seem to take orders from the old husk of a woman we met today when they already have your father as their leader?"

Hiccup nearly chokes on his own saliva. He'd never heard someone refer to the Elder as 'an old husk of a woman', so it was safe to say that he had been a bit surprised by Toothless' words.a

* * *

Toothless stood in front of the small group of seated people, listening to Hiccup walk from the Hall, his focus on the only woman in the room. She was small and weak looking, hair a gray color that Toothless knew meant that she was old for a human and was in her twilight years. From the way that the others around her acted, it was easy for Toothless to tell that even though Hiccup's father led the village, she would always have the last say on things. For the life of him, Toothless could not see why a woman half his own human size seemed to be almost revered. She didn't look strong and he'd seen how slowly she moved with her great walking stick. To him, all he could see was an old, weak human being upon the verge of death.

"Young man," the Elder says a few moments after the last echoes of the door closing fade, "in the years that I have lived on this earth, I have never seen such a strange story as yours. It is remarkable to think that you had a different form from the one you stand in now a few days ago. As peculiar as this whole situation is, I can not deny that there _is _indeed a small resemblance that you bear to young Hiccup's Dragon, especially in your eyes."

Toothless continues to stare at her, head unconsciously tilting slightly in interest. Even if she was just an old woman, she was just an old woman who was apparently very good at seeing the truth in matters, no matter the odd coincidences surrounding it. He smiled a little when he began to realize that she had believed what Hiccup had said from the get go.

"I have seen very strange things in my times, not nearly as strange as this, but still quite odd. The world we live in is full of life and energies and magic that we humans may never be able to understand. I accept you into this village young man, and I hope that you are able to teach us of some of the wonders in life that we may never get a chance to know otherwise."

"Elder, you can't possibly be saying you actually believe this!" Yongurd says, nearing toppling his seat over as he stood up to look to the woman.

The look on her face is, in a word, piercing.

"I do indeed believe it Yongurd. Do you challenge my decision?"

"No, not at all Elder, that's not what I was getting-"

"Toothless," the Elder says, interrupting Yongurd for the second time that day, "it seems that there may be people here who doubt what Hiccup has said in your defense. If it's possible, might you be able to tell us something that only Toothless the Dragon would know to help me dispel their concerns?"

Toothless nods and has to think for a moment. What was something that only he would have known in his priginal form? Something they would be able to confirm?

"When I and Hiccup fought the Great Queen of Death," Toothless finds himself beginning without a second thought, "there was a moment when the tailfin he had fashioned for me would no longer work. He fell from my back and towards the heat of the fire that destroyed the Dragon Queen. It is known that he lost his foot because of that. What he does not know is that to save his life, I had to let his foot burn. He screamed in agony as we fell. I could smell as the heat burned away at the part of him that I had not been able to cover in time. There was very little I could do. It was either I let him lose his one foot or try to move my wings to save it and perhaps accidentally let the flames eat at the rest of him. I would not have that. No. I would not have that happen."

The room is nothing but silence for a few seconds before the Elder turns from where she is sitting to stare at Yongurd.

"Does this still not convince you Yongurd? The only people to actually see this happen were those who were there. Were you not one of them?"

"Ah, yes, I was indeed there, Elder."

"I did not even know that the boy had been saved by his Dragon's wings, and I have heard the same story many times in these last months." She says with a small smile.

"I…I am sorry Elder."

"No matter, it is forgiven so long as you can accept this boy, Yongurd. Toothless, you may leave; I do believe young Hiccup is possibly waiting just outside the doors for you."

Not knowing quite how to excuse himself, Toothless leaves with a nod and makes his way out of the building. Toothless was not half way to the door when Stoick turned to the Elder.

"Elder, you know I've never questioned you about anything before, but I have to ask, is this really a good idea? To be letting a boy who was a Dragon not but a few days ago wander around the village?" he said in a very serious tone.

"He will not be wandering around by himself Stoick. Your son will be by his side and he by your son's just like always, right?" The Elder said with a soft smile.

"Even still Elder, the truth of this matter isn't exactly an easy thing to swallow. What will the rest of the village think?"

"The people of this village were able to accept Dragons as friends after a war that spanned the course of seven generations of Vikings. Have faith in your people, Stoick the Vast. They will soon learn to warm to a Dragon who now walks as a man, just you wait and see."

Stoick stands to help the much smaller, fragile woman as she eases her way out of her chair, hoping to the Gods that she's right.

* * *

If you haven't noticed, I skipped ahead about five days. Why, you ask? Because honestly, I do not think it's a smart idea to try and write a chapter for every single day of the year that Toothless is human. We would be getting nowhere fast and I'm fairly certain my mind might explode if I'd tried to do that.

That being said, I officially have a time/outline for the rest of this story all written up so I know what's going on each and every step of the way. Only thing is, as it is now, it's going to have a lot of chapters. When I say a lot, I mean A LOT. Like around 50-60ish if I stick with my outline (and don't add more that is).

That being said, I'd like to let you all know what I'm thinking about doing with these future chapters. Some of them will be long, maybe much longer than these first three chapters have been. Some will be short; so short that they may resemble a prompt response at best. But it will be all intentional, I promise. Some chapters are just going to cover more complicated matters that Toothless faces as a human, and others will cover things that are simpler. I promise that I will try my very best to make the update time in between the chapters that are shorter as small as possible to make up for it.

Other than that, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you thought if you've got the time!


	4. Day 13: Birth

_Disclaimer: I don't really own anyone or thing I'm to write about, DreamWorks does and that's all there is to it._

* * *

It had been established since Hiccup was but a small babe that there was something quite different about him when compared to others his age. Out of the many things that made him stand out was that he did not like to join in the rough, tumbling play that the other boys loved. When he did join in, by much persuasion on the part of his parents, he was usually the first one to be hurt in someway. It had not been an uncommon sight for little Hiccup to make his way home after only an hour or so of play, a huge bruise blossoming on his face or his body wearing a new array of cuts and scrapes.

He never cried about any of it, for which his parents were quite proud. Being the only boy on the island who didn't immediately want to go about hitting another his age over the head with his fist, they had worried that he might have been too much of a gentle soul for the likes of being a Viking. But never seeing his eyes tear up, even when he was marred with similar scrapes that would have made his peers sob, Hiccup's parents had thought differently of him. If for a little while, at least. It was several months after they had first persuaded Hiccup into playing with the other boys that he came clambering home, his right arm cradled to his chest and the saddest look on his little face.

"What's wrong, Hiccup?" his mother had asked from where she'd been sitting by the fire, stoking it back to life.

Hiccup had only sighed and had gone to stand in front of his mother, arm still cradled close to him.

"They won't let me play with them anymore. They say I'm just bad luck."

She had frowned, wondering why the sudden change of heart from the other boys. From Hiccup's renditions of his daily adventures, it sounded like they were all going about having a good time.

"Now, why would they do that Hiccup? You've been telling your father and me how much fun you were all having."

When Hiccup's head bowed slightly and he would suddenly no longer meet his eyes was when the woman knew her son had been lying to them. The room was silent for a while as she watched Hiccup shift back and forth on his feet, seeming to be in some sort of discomfort.

"Hiccup," the mother said unexpectedly, crossing his arms, "look at me, son."

Hiccup looked up tentatively.

"Have you been lying to me and your father?"

Hiccup bites his lip before answering.

"A little. Ok, maybe a lot. But," Hiccup manages to interrupt just as the Chieftain's wife opens her mouth to speak once more, "they really did say they didn't want me near them when they played anymore. They really did say I was nothing but bad luck."

"Why would they say that Hiccup? If you haven't been playing with them all this time, why would they care now?"

Hiccup worries his lip again.

"I would just sit and watch them play really. You and dad seemed so happy when I went, so I thought, even if I wasn't going to play, I could at least watch and tell you guys what they did. But, it seems like no matter where I did or didn't sit or what the other boys were doing, some kind of accident would always happen when I was there. That's why I always came home all scratched up."

She nodded as disappointment and sadness built up in her chest. So the cuts and bruises weren't from roughhousing with his peers, they were from his own clumsiness.

"It's also how I got this." Hiccup says, finally uncradling his arm from his chest, presenting it to his father.

Hiccup's mother didn't notice anything peculiar about it for a second. Then her eyes became aware of the fact that part of the forearm was bent at a slightly different angle then the rest of the boy's arm, a nasty bruise already beginning to form where the angles changed. So he had managed to break his own arm too.

"Alright Hiccup, lets get you to the medicine woman and have her take a look at it. You can continue to explain why you lied as we walk."

Hiccup's eyes were downcast again as they left the house, his arm cradled back into his chest. The woman sighed as she looked at her son, wondering if the boy would ever be like his father.

The fact that Hiccup was different from anyone else in the village was only accentuated when his mother died. Soon after, it had become apparent to the young boy that he and his father, in a way, were up shit's creek without a paddle. Hiccup first came to this conclusion when not but two days after his mother's funeral, he ripped a hole in his tunic and realized he had no one whom he could ask to fix it. It only got worse when he had to eat a strange looking and awful tasting stew his father had made; the only semi-edible thing Stoick knew how to cook properly without burning it into nonexistence.

So, not wanting to have to suffer longer than was necessary, Hiccup began to teach himself simple housework tasks. Like how to sew and cook and do laundry. He was laughed at for learning how to do these things by all the other boys on the island; why would he want to learn how to do things only girls did?

He let their comments roll off his back. At least if he had a rip in his shirt or wanted to eat something instead of his father's odd stew, he didn't have to run to his mother and ask her to do it. But, even as he thinks this reassuring thought, he remembers the only reason he doesn't have to run to his mother is because he doesn't even have one anymore.

Hiccup shook his head to clear his thoughts and focused back on where he sat at the house table, slowly trying to teach Toothless how to sew. It had become apparent after almost two weeks of dressing Toothless in his father's few old clothes that it was just not something that they could do for a whole year. The tunics hung more like over sized dresses on Toothless' skinnier frame; the leggings bunched up around his ankles and flapped in the wind. Needless to say, Toothless looked somewhat comical, if not also uncomfortable. So, earlier that same day, Hiccup had gone to the village's cloth weaver and had asked for the materials he would need to make Toothless at least one set of decent clothes.

From there, he had spent the greater part of the morning trying to see just how big he would have to make the clothes in order for them to fit his friend properly. When he had done that, he'd taken a moment to sketch out what he was to be making, showing it to Toothless when he was done and asking the Dragon boy if he'd like to wear it.

The other boy had given him a strange look, saying that he did not know that humans could use parchment as clothing.

Hiccup had laughed for several moments, confusing the dark haired boy to no end.

When Hiccup had eventually been able to explain to Toothless that it was the picture on the parchment he had talking about, Toothless had grown as excited as a Dragon turned human could be about clothing.

Soon after that, Hiccup had begun to meticulously cut the material and slowly went about sewing it together.

Toothless hadn't gone into the main part of the village since the meeting with the Elder and, to be honest, he was completely content not to go back there for the rest of the year that he remained human. But, as he should have known, sooner or later he was probably going to end up back there, hundreds of overwhelming faces looking at him with curious eyes yet again.

Apparently, the Gods had decided that the 'sooner' of the two options was the best way to go about this.

"Hiccup!" Astrid had called when the sun was just past midday, banging open the front door of the Haddock residence with a resounding _thunk_.

While Hiccup had merely looked up from one of the tunic's short sleeve he'd been sewing without so much as batting an eyelash, Toothless was fairly certain he had managed to put two feet of air between himself and the chair he'd been sitting at. Startled, he turned to her and hissed in a way that was not all unlike the way the Dragon he'd been less than two weeks ago would have.

Quick to shrug off the somewhat strange reaction of the much taller boy, Astrid strode over to Hiccup, grabbing him by his arm.

"What is it?" he asked cautiously, not sure if he might have done something to upset her.

"Your father sent me up here to get you. The Hustlick woman just gave birth to her first child and asked that you _and_ Toothless be there."

Toothless' attention is captured by the mention of his name and Hiccup smiles before putting the sewing down and standing from the table.

"Come on Toothless, you heard Astrid, we get to go greet a little Viking into the world."

"I do not want to go there." Toothless says simply, plopping himself firmly in his chair, eyes daring Hiccup to try and make him move from the spot.

Hiccup frowns slightly before giving Astrid a quiet "Go on ahead, we'll be right there". Hiccup doesn't speak again until Astrid is gone.

"Toothless, why won't you go? What we're being asked to do is a really big honor. No one outside the family except the Chief of the village or a great hero is usually asked to see a child during its first day in the world."

Toothless is silent, his large eyes staring intently at the grain of the wood of the table.

"Are you afraid of babies or something? I know they can be vicious, being all newly born and what not." Hiccup offers in an attempt to break the heavy mood that had somehow settled over the room.

Toothless snorts in amusement.

"That is not why I will not go, even if what you say _is_ funny. I do not want to be stared at by your people as they did the last time I showed my face to them. This form is meant to make it easier for me to interact with mankind; and yet all it has done so far is to make me stick out like…stick out like…"

"A sore thumb?" Hiccup offers.

"Yes. A sore thumb. But most of all, I do not want people to be wary of you just because they do not understand what has happened to me. It is not good or right of them to do such a thing."

Hiccup sighed and scratched the back of his neck. He could understand the dark haired boy's concerns; the people of his village hadn't exactly given him what could have been considered a warm welcome. They hadn't been mean or cruel to the newly turned Dragon, but they hadn't exactly been very receptive of him either.

"Toothless, bud, you shouldn't worry about me. I've had my fair share of tough times with living here before you came around. If they're going to continue acting like confused children, then I don't see why you should have to suffer their silliness alone, you know?"

Toothless' face turned from contemplative to confused in a heartbeat.

"Why would they treat you like they have treated me? You were born as a human, just like them. To their leader no less. I do not understa-"

"Anyways," Hiccup interrupts, "the point I was trying to get at was that you should worry more about yourself Toothless. You've said being a human was suppose to help you and other Dragons learn more about mankind, right? So how are you going to learn if you never leave the house?"

The Dragon boy gives his friend a quick, yet frightening, glare. He knew Hiccup was trying to avoid something with his interruption, and his curious nature was dying to know exactly what it was that his best friend would not tell him. But instead of giving into the temptation of asking more questions, Toothless let Hiccup's avoidance slide to the back of his mind. For now.

Especially when he still had to convince the emerald eyed boy that he would not be stepping outside the house that day.

"I like this house."

"You might like the rest of the village too if you went out more."

"I have seen it plenty of times. This house is best."

"You've only been into the village once since you turned into a human."

"That is plenty, yes?"

Hiccup groaned. Why, in the name of all the Gods, did he have to deal with such a moody Dragon boy? A clever little idea crept into his mind as the previous thought left it though. Hiccup turned to the front door, opening it in a flourished manner.

"Fine then, I guess I'll just go by myself. I hope you find something to do by yourself for a few hours. It might take even longer than that, what with the long night of potential feasting to celebrate the birth. Well, I guess I may as well say 'see you in the morning' bud! Hope you don't die of boredom."

With that, Hiccup stepped out the door, closing it behind him, and began to make his way down the hill. Not even several seconds later was the front door slammed open again, a less than happy Dragon boy looking at him through it.

"Fine. I will go. But only this once, yes?"

Hiccup smiled to himself, pleased with his success.

The duo made their way down into the village, receiving a similar reaction to the one they'd experienced when Toothless came into the village to speak with the Elder. People looked up from what they may have been doing to stare at them as they passed. If Hiccup hadn't made the effort to wave and greet as many people as possible, most of them managing a half-hearted wave back, the walk would have surely been unbearable.

Toothless fidgeted, wholly not enjoying the feeling of being stared at. He'd been able to handle it well enough in his original form. But this human one seemed so sensitive to overbearing glances and stares. He dimly wondered why this was.

"Do you even know where we are going?" Toothless asked, hoping to be wherever it was they were heading soon.

"One thing you should know about living in Berk, Toothless, is that whenever there's a baby born, all you got to do to find it is look for the crowd."

Toothless was just about to ask what the shorter boy meant, when he noticed that a particularly large group of people had gathered around the entrance to a smaller, hut like, house.

"Is this it?" Toothless asked quietly, but before Hiccup could answer the question, there was a loud, rambunctious cry of a voice.

"There you lads are! I was wonderin' if you didn' somehow get lost on the hill or something." Gobber came hobbling up to them, goofy grin on his face, a sloshing mead mug acting as his left hand.

"Nah, it just took a little convincing on my part to get this big scaredy cat out of the house. He was going about saying he was afraid of babies or somthing." Hiccup said, pointing a finger towards Toothless at the 'scardey cat' comment.

Toothless bristled slightly, suddenly intent on declaring how he had never said such a thing, when Gobber's expressive laugh broke his concentration.

"A Dragon boy afraid of a baby, eh? Who'd of ever thought it? Best be gettin' you two knuckle heads inside though, what with you being the guests of honor and all!"

Gobber was quick to clear a path in the crowd, a cry of 'Outta' the way, guests of honor coming through!' doing the job just fine. Once inside the hut like house, Toothless was hit with a rather pungent smell of blood. While his senses were nowhere near what they had been when he was in his true form, it was still impossible for Toothless to not smell the bitter metallic stench that hung in the air. Since no one else around him seemed alarmed by the smell, Toothless tried his best to ignore it and continue on.

"Right through there lads, I'm not suppose to be goin' much farther than this." Gobber said after only a few steps into the hut, pointing to a room whose entrance was blocked by a simple hanging cloth. Toothless followed Hiccup silently, a little perturbed when the scent of blood grew stronger as they entered the inner room.

"There you boys are! I was wondering if I'd be all alone in welcoming this babe to the village!" Stoick's voice boomed in its natural bass.

Toothless stepped fully into the room, close behind Hiccup. On a small, cot like bed in the middle of the room laid a half propped up woman. Her hair was a tangled mess, drenched in what Toothless could only assume was sweat, her forehead shinning from the liquid as well. Her eyes looked exhausted and she moved slowly, as if ever muscle in her body ached. Kindly put, the woman looked like they had stumbled upon her at a bad time. In her arms was what looked like, to Toothless at least, a squirming pile of cloth.

"Ah, thank you both for coming to see my little girl. She's not only my firstborn, but she's also the first child to be born since the Great Dragon War has ended. I wanted her to meet the two responsible for giving her a peaceful world to be born into." The woman said with a weary, but happy, smile.

The medicine woman, a woman who was well on her way to being the oldest person in the village –excluding the Elder herself-, gently took the swaddled babe from her mother's arms and presented her to the Chieftain.

Toothless watched as Stoick gently held the bundle of cloth in his massive arms, making it seem even smaller.

"She's got a good, strong breath in her chest. She'll be a fighter, no doubt about it." The burly man said with a small smile, eventually passing the baby to Hiccup.

The boy looked down at the bundle as well, a much bigger smile splashed over his face than the one his father had worn. Somehow it managed to grow though when a hand, the tiniest hand Toothless could have ever seen, set itself loose to grasp one of Hiccup's long fingers.

"Well, would you look at that? Not even a day old and she's already got such a fine grip!"

Toothless' head cocked to the side, staring at the bundle in his best friend's arms. So, this was a human hatchling, called a 'baby'? What a strange word to describe your young.

"Would it be alright if Toothless were to hold her?" Hiccup asks the mother suddenly.

Toothless begins to protest when the mother waves a hand at the three males, as if brushing the comment out of the air.

"I would not have invited him if I didn't intend for him to."

Hiccup looks to him, a smile on his face, holding the bundle in his arms a little farther away from his body, towards Toothless.

"How do I hold-"

"See how my arms are folded? Just make them like that."

Toothless took a moment to look at how the brow haired boy's arms seemed to gently hug the baby to his chest, copying the maneuver. Toothless doesn't miss the worried look that passes over Stoick's face when Hiccup finally handed him the child.

Toothless stared at the thing that had been gently placed in his oddly folded arms. It was light, the blankets swaddling it giving it some weight, and most of it was hidden by the tightly wrapped cloth that was cocooning it. What he could see though was a little face of a tiny human. The skin of the face was somewhat blotchy, pinks and reds and whites staining it. He wanted to grimace slightly at the sight, but refrained. He knew newly hatched dragonets weren't exactly the nicest thing to look at either.

'_It's so very small. Do all humans start off like this?'_ he wondered to himself after a moment.

He continued to stare at it, beginning to marvel at the little heartbeat he could feel thumping along his arm, quietly watched the rise and fall of the little girl's tiny chest. Toothless felt his heart being seized up in what he would eventually realize was awe. Awe towards this tiny, tiny little thing would someday grow to be just as big as its parents, would repeat the cycle of life its sires and generations before it had been a part of. What a strange, wonderful thing this little baby was.

"Toothless, you getting lost in thought there buddy?" Hiccup questions him quietly, bringing his attention back to the room and away from his thoughts.

The dark skinned boy looks from the baby in his arms and back to the pleading eyes of his friend several times, wondering what he was doing wrong. Then it occurred to him that when Stoick and Hiccup had held the child they had both given it some kind of compliment. Looking back down at the baby, Toothless attempted to come up with something nice to say about it.

"I have never seen anything so…pink before. That is a good thing for a baby to be, yes?" Toothless tried his best, not knowing if he was making himself look more like a fool than anything else.

The room was immediately filled with roaring laughter from the newly made mother, tentatively followed by everyone else in the room.

"Yes, that is a very good thing indeed." The woman said once she had managed to get herself under control once more.

Toothless could not stop the happy smile that spread over his face as he looked from the mother back down to the baby. It may not have been the most handsome of creatures to look at, but it was a new life, and in Toothless' point of view, anything that was as wonderfully alive as the thing in his arms was, it was still beautiful in some holy sort of way.

* * *

Astrid stared from afar as Hiccup and the recently turned human Toothless made their way from the medicine woman's hut, back up the hill towards the sea cliffs, her mind deep in thought.

"What'cha looking at?" comes Ruffnut's voice as the other girl carelessly puts a hand on Astrid's shoulder.

Astrid brushes the hand off as soon as it had been put there, mumbling a short "Get off me" before turning her attention back to the two boys. Ruffnut follows where Astrid's stare goes, a grin spreading across her face.

"Ohhh, I see. Staring at your man meat? Such a respectable pastime, isn't it?"

"What do you want Ruffnut? Did you come to ask me something in or what? Where's your brother by the way?"

"That vomit face managed to swipe some of the alcohol away from the adults and probably's already gotten both he and Snoutlout half drunk at this point. Trust me, you don't want wanna' see his ass drunk or hung over. That's why I'm over here with you miss prissy, trying to catch up on some girl time and what not."

"Yeah, well I'm a bit busy right now."

"Staring at your man meat, yeah, that could keep you busy for a while, right?" Ruffnut said with a devious smirk, watching Astrid fume slightly.

"I wasn't staring, I was just thinking and happened to be looking in that direction."

"Right, right. If that's true, then what were you thinking about, huh?"

Astrid's quiet for a moment.

"I was wondering why so few people believe what Hiccup said about Toothless becoming a human."

"Uh, maybe because it sounds crazy?"

"So you don't believe him either then?" Astrid says with an icy stare.

"No need to get upset miss prissy. Don't you be worrying your pretty little head, I believe him."

"Then why did you say-"

"Just because you believe something doesn't make it sound any less crazy, you know?"

Astrid's glare disappears and is replaced with a much more neutral look.

"Why'd you believe him? I mean, I know he's pulled some crazy stuff, but talking about a Dragon turning into a human for a year? Now that's just insane." Ruffnut says with a soft burp.

"I believe him because the only alternative makes even less sense."

"That being what?"

"Toothless leaving him. I mean, you saw how those two have been these last six months, right? They were never outside without the other close behind, practically soldered to each other's hips. Not only that, it's too much of a coincidence that just as Toothless disappears, a strange boy shows up! It's crazy, but at least Hiccup's explanation makes a little more sense than anything else I can think of." Astrid finishes, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I guess that makes a bit of sense, when you put it like that. I wouldn't have ever thought of it that way."

There's only a second of silence before Astrid turns the tables on Ruffnut and becomes the one asking questions.

"What made you believe him then, if it wasn't because the Dragon disappeared?"

Ruffnut pulled a face, scratching at her teeth for a second with a fingernail.

"His eyes."

"What?"

"You deaf or something? I said I believed him 'cause of that boy's eyes. You ever see such a weird color on another person before?"

Astrid's answer was a shake of the head.

"Exactly. You don't even see that type of eye color on other Dragons, just Hiccup's, right?"

Astrid gave a nod, slightly surprised by the other girl's insightfulness. By no means did she think Ruffnut to be dumb…she just hadn't been expecting such a smart answer from her.

The two girls stood there for another minute or so in comfortable silence, simply observing the bustle of the town around them.

"You know, he's kind of nice to look at when you get a good view of him. For having been a Dragon, anyways." Ruffnut said flippantly as she sauntered off, leaving a very bemused Astrid behind her. Astrid shook her head, knowing she'd probably never understand the other girl's sense of humor.

And if the other girl wasn't joking, Astrid prayed to the Gods for Toothless' sanity.

* * *

Toothless felt as if he could not stop the little grin that kept tugging at the corners of his mouth. Going to village today had been a surprisingly positive experience, but there was something that had been bugging him since he had stepped into that medicine woman's hut house.

"Hiccup", Toothless says as they walk slowly around the grassy cliffs that over look the sea, "where do human children come from?"

Hiccup trips over his own feet –foot really- and it's only Toothless catching him by the back of his vest that he doesn't fall over.

"Wh-what?" he asks the confused looking Dragon boy, straightening back up on unsteady legs.

"Where was her nest Hiccup? She surely must have made one at her home to put her egg in, so why did they go to a different hut if the nest was already there? To move an egg that is near ready to hatch is a very strange thing to do, is it not? Why did she only have one baby Hiccup? Do humans not lay more than one egg at a time?"

Hiccup wanted to pull at his hair in disbelief and sheer embarrassment. It was just his luck, of course, that he would be the one to have to explain to Toothless what happened when a man and a woman really loved each other. And it certainly did not involve laying any eggs.

"Ahh, well, I guess since you'll be human for a while still, someone's going to have to explain it to you anyways." Hiccup said, almost underneath his breath, face flushing a bright red as they stopped.

Hiccup cleared his throat several times and waited for a minute or two of tense silence to pass before beginning, voice cracking slightly when he did.

"Well, ok. You, uh, see, humans don't lay eggs Toothless. The mother, uh, oh Gods, how do I explain this? Uh, the mother of the child actually, uh, carries the baby inside her body for the good part of a year, before it's ready to be born. If it comes out any sooner than that, it'll usually die. That's, um, why most women only have one child at a time. There's, um, not a whole lot of room. Inside her. That is." Hiccup's face felt like it was on fire, and he would have not been surprised if his face looked like he'd sat by a fire for much too long.

Toothless cupped a gently clenched fist with his other hand, something Hiccup recognized as a habit of Snotlout's, head nodding in what he hoped was understanding.

"So, humans give birth to children somewhat like a Dragon does, yes? There is no egg, but instead, the young stay inside their mother until they are ready to come out?"

Hiccup nodded and sighed, relieved that Toothless seemed to understand the basic mechanics of human childbearing without him having to go into all the frightening, gory details.

"But…but does it not hurt her when it breaks out? How does she survive if the child pecks her open from the inside out? That woman from before was fine, how did she manage that?" Toothless begins his questioning once more.

Hiccup clenched his teeth as he felt yet another embarrassed blush creep up onto his face. So much for him thinking he wasn't going to have to explain those gory details to his Dragon.

* * *

**Edit: Sorry about the line breaks not being there for a bit, I'd thought I'd put them in, but I guess the site had a different idea, eh? Oh, and I'm sorry _FrostFear_ that I didn't seem to answer your questions the way you wanted. Burning sucks, but I think if you wait a while, most of your questions will be answered anyways.**

Author's note: This chapter makes me happy. Explaining to a Dragon exactly how baby humans come into this world? Absolutely priceless. It was so fun to write. And a note on why the baby's face is described as looking blotchy and Toothless calling it somewhat ugly. I'm sure all of your moms have at least a picture of you right after you were born; I know my mom does and let me tell you, newborn babies are definitely not cute. You got to remember, the poor thing just got squeezed out of a birth canal, which isn't exactly the most spacious place you could be. I hardly believe any that can't be pretty.

I believe one of the reviewers for this story (who was anonymous, so I could not answer them back directly) asked a few questions that I'll answer here:

-As you saw, Astrid did indeed make an appearance. As for any pairings that may happen, I'll keep that to myself for the moment and you can watch as they develop in the fic.

-The delay between chapters is going to be predictably unpredictable. I've got two jobs and am going to college, so my plate is fairly full already. Sorry if that's not exactly what you were hoping for.

-I'm not sure why no one's created an AstridxToothless fic, but I'm also not really sure I should be the one you ask anyways.


	5. Day 20: Rain

_Disclaimer: I don't really own anyone or thing I'm to write about, DreamWorks does and that's all there is to it._

* * *

Toothless stood there, looking up into the storming spring sky of Berk. He was bemused, but not by the rain itself. In his already long life, Toothless had seen and been stuck out in his own fair share of rainstorms. But this one…this one felt like he was experiencing it all for the very first time. In his original body, he could hardly feel the rain at all. It had slid from his scales harmlessly, its coolness only something he would dimly note. In this human body, it felt like all of his senses were being overwhelmed at once.

The smell of the cool water was absolutely refreshing, the scent of wet earth nearly intoxicating. He could feel the little droplets race down his face, could feel them warming as they rested on his body. The rain had soaked through the tunic and leggings he had on, making the garments cling to him in an odd sort of way. He could feel the cool mud squishy between his toes, making a sucking sound whenever he moved his feet.

It surprised him. He knew for a fact that as a Dragon his senses were more than just a class above than the ones he now possessed. So why did it seem like this body was so much more receptive to the elements?

"Toothless, buddy, what are you doing?"

Toothless turns, surprised by the voice, to see where Hiccup was standing at the front door of the house not but a few feet away, a highly confused look sprawled on the other boy's face.

"I am, as you say, enjoying the weather." He calls back, continuing to stare up at the sky.

He misses the shrug that tightens Hiccup's shoulders, but manages to hear him when he says,

"Don't stay out too long, you'll catch a cold, alright?"

Toothless nods, making note to ask his friend, once he got inside, how humans exactly went about catching the Cold. Did they somehow find a way to capture it in a net? Or maybe it was something you could only do in a cool rain like this? Humans were so strange, but brilliant at times really. Who would have thought one could catch Coldness?

Toothless shakes his head, enjoying the way his hair clings to the skin of his face and sighs happily. What a wonderful thing, to stand in the rain.

What wasn't such a wonderful thing was when he soon went back into the house and was scolded for tracking in mud and water. No, _that_ wasn't a particularly wonderful thing at all.

* * *

**Author's note:** Remember back in chapter three when I said some chapters would end up being really short? Yeah, short chapter is short. Have no fears though, I should have another update very soon. And I'd like to take the time here to thank all of you who have reviewed. Already having over 70 reviews for only four chapters? I never thought that was going to happen, so thank you all for reading and enjoying this fic thus far! It really does mean a lot to me.


	6. Day 23: Whistling

Disclaimer: I don't really own anyone or thing I'm to write about, DreamWorks does and that's all there is to it.

* * *

Toothless is not initially awakened by the delicious smell of cooking meat, no doubt on a spit and roasting near the fire, just waiting to be eaten by him. He's awakened by a sound making its way through the house. It's a strange, yet not unpleasant noise, something similar to the song a bird sings in the early hours of the morning.

Rolling off of the cot in Hiccup's room that had been fashioned for him until a proper bed was made, Toothless scratched at his chin from where he sat. He yawned quietly, attention still set on the sound that was weaving its way throughout the house. He stood up after another few seconds, stretching and scratching at his bare chest. Toothless' face twisted into a rather sour expression as he remembered something. Looking to the small pile of clothing that lay at the end of his cot, the look on his face became an all out grimace.

For as long as he could remember, he'd always wondered why humans wore tiny strings of woven cotton, wool, and animal fur over their bodies. It had confused him to no end. Being a human did nothing to hinder this confusion, much to the horror of Hiccup and Stoick when he had come barreling downstairs after his first night as a human, bear butt naked and all.

After that, Hiccup had explained that clothes were not only meant as a way to protect a person from whatever elements there might be, but also made the person decent to face other people. When Toothless had asked what he had meant by "decent to face other people" the shorter boy, in his clumsy sort of way, had tried to bluntly explain to him that people didn't just walk around naked. That it was embarrassing for other people to see.

Toothless hadn't asked anything after that. He was more confounded than ever, and surely more questions would just result in more confusion. It was not the first time that he couldn't help but think that humans were strange folk, that clothing was just another one of humankind's habits that he would never quite get. He thought, if you did not let others see what your body looked like, where it strengths lay, then how would you know who would make the best life-mate for you when the time came?

He looked to the clothes on the floor, then to the undergarments that he had slept in. He'd been scolded several times already for walking about the house in nothing but the wrappings that kept his privates hidden from sight. Not wanting to add another one of Hiccup's "You can't do that" lectures to the growing list, Toothless sighed and began putting on the clothes Hiccup had made for him. The tunic was a very dark blue, the sleeves just long enough to reach his mid forearm, the short vest he put over it made out of some form of brown fur. His leggings were a tan-brown color and the furred boots, which he hardly bothered to put on with it being springtime and all, had a red tint to them.

He stretched again once he was done, and began to make his way down the stairs, the strange noise that had awoken him sounding once more. Making his way into the sitting room, Toothless was soon to find Hiccup standing near the fireplace, a fish on a spit in hand over the fire. Toothless watched the boy cook and, more importantly, tried to figure out exactly what he was doing with his mouth. Hiccup's mouth was pursed together to form a small circular shape, his cheeks puffing and unpuffing in an odd sort of way. These odd antics were apparently the source of the pleasant, if not peculiar, noise that had awoken him not too long ago.

"What are you doing?"

Hiccup jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, nearly dropping the fish directly into the fire, the noise immediately stopping.

"Oh, Toothless, I didn't know you were up, I was just making some fish for breakfast."

"No, that is not what I meant. Your mouth, your cheeks, you were making a strange noise with them. What is it called?"

"Whistling."

Toothless took a second to get his own mouth form the foreign word.

"Whistling?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's kind of like a person's way to sing like a bird can."

"How do you do such a thing?"

In all fairness, Hiccup had tried as best he could to show his friend how to properly narrow your mouth and gently blow air through it. He had been patient when the dark haired boy's attempts had failed again and again. But when more than most of the morning had passed and Toothless had still not been able to form anything outside of a wet, farting noise with his mouth, Hiccup had decided to see if he faired any better left to his own devices.

Toothless spent to rest of the day pursing his lips together, gently blowing air through them, again and again, getting nothing but a strange spurting noise to form. He decided then and there, right after the idea of clothing, whistling was something else about mankind that he may just never quite understand.

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**Author's note: **If I could have it my way, real life wouldn't have little problems pop up at you every single day. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones that build up until all of the sudden, those little things feel like one BIG issue. Yeah.

I'd also like to formally (as formally as one can through a computer) apologize to you all. I use to write on this site quite a bit about a year ago before making this new account and coming back to it. In all the time that I've written on here, I never realized that when I went back in and resubmitted a chapter (usually because of a small grammar/copyediting problem that I noticed once I'd uploaded) that it would _**resend you guys an alert every time**_. For that, I grovel at your feet for forgiveness, because I've resubmitted things countless times without ever actually knowing what the hell I'd just done. I think it is appropriate right at this moment for me to just…bang my head and weep sadly at my own silliness.


	7. Day 26: Age

_Disclaimer: I don't really own anyone or thing I'm to write about, DreamWorks does and that's all there is to it._

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"Toothless, how old are you?" the words tumbled out of Hiccup's mouth before he really thought about what he was saying.

The darker skinned boy looked up from where he'd been quietly practicing how to sew on a scrap piece of cloth in a corner of the smithy. Just because his best friend had recently changed species, something that still confused and scared a good number of the other Vikings, it didn't excuse Hiccup from his responsibilities as Gobber's apprentice.

"Why do you ask?" Toothless asked, watching as Hiccup continued to hammer away at the red hot metal, the shorter boy's proximity to such dangerous equipment and his own clumsy behavior a continual worry for Toothless.

"No reason, just thinking out loud really."

"Ah, well then, could you tell me how a human would measure how long they have lived?"

Hiccup looked up from the cooling metal, a curious grin on his face.

"What, do Dragons not keep track of their age or something? You guys don't count how many summers or winters you've seen?"

"No. Not really."

The grin on Hiccup's face becomes questioning rather than simply curious.

"Then how can you figure out who's older or younger than you? Or is that sort of thing just not important?"

"Um, well. It is hard to explain how you know how old a Dragon is. It is…it is like a scent, really. If I were in my original form right now, I would be able to go about and tell if another Dragon was older or younger than I. I can not tell you by how many summers or winters older or younger then me they are. But I would still know."

Hiccup was listening with rapt attention to his friend. What a strange and wonderful thing to learn. To think that a Dragon could know how old each other were just by their smell! He had to wonder if there were other strange and wonderful things Toothless would let him know about his life as Dragon. His mind was already racing, thinking of the possibility of writing down such interesting facts for future generations to read.

"So, does age not really matter when it comes to someone being 'top dog' in the group?" Hiccup asked of his friend, questions forming so rapidly in his mind that they were piling up on one another.

Toothless shook his head as he answered.

"Do not misunderstand; age is an important thing amongst Dragons. The older you are, the more respect you are to have. Not just because you are older, but because you have been strong enough to survive for that long. Age is a sign of strength, for as a Dragon ages, they become more and more deadly. Their skin and scales grow tougher, their fire becomes hotter, even their wings grow stronger. Time is a Dragon's friend, Hiccup."

Hiccup smiled slightly at the ironic juxtaposition. Dragons grew stronger as they aged while mankind was doomed to fragility as they reached their twilight years.

"You still didn't answer my question though." Hiccup said as he turned his attention partially back to the metal he'd been working with. He frowned when he realized it had grown o cold to try and work with.

"Ah, well. I do not exactly know how old I am by counting the number of summers I have seen. But I do know how many times I have been around to see the Great Wish come and go."

"How many has it been then? Was this your first one?" Hiccup said, bringing the metal he'd been working on back over to the heated open rock pit, heating it once more until it was an angry, bright orange color. If he could just get this last bit straightened completely, it'd be finished and perfect.

"Oh no, it has been at least six times now that I have seen the time of the Great Wish come."

The grip Hiccup had on the hammer he was working with vanished as he realized how old the person sitting in front of him was. The tool flew backwards from his hand to comically crash into and upturn one of the few stools in the work area.

"Wh-what? That many times? Do you know how old that makes you?" Hiccup exclaimed as he hobbled to where the hammer had fallen, righting the chair as he went.

Toothless stares blankly at him.

"Somewhat…old?" he eventually says in a questioning manner.

"You're at least a thousand and five hundred years old, Toothless. Do you know how old that is to a human?" Hiccup said, an amazed and awed tone lacing itself into his voice.

"Very old then?"

"Yeah, but I think that may just be putting it a bit lightly bud."

"I did not know that that was so old to a human. It is not much to a Dragon. I have heard stories of Dragons who have lived since before humans even existed, and that was supposed to be so long ago that some Dragons did not even have wings yet!"

"Somehow, I feel like you're pulling my leg buddy. Dragons without wings? That's even crazier than you turning into a human."

Toothless frowned, confusion playing with his features.

"I didn't actually mean you were pulling on my leg Toothless. Remember how I told you the other day that humans have sayings like that; saying one thing that doesn't literally mean what it sounds like?"

Toothless nodded with a shrug, a distinct muttering of "so strange" and "do not understand why you would not say what you mean" being easily heard as the darker skinned boy turned back to the work in his hands.

Hiccup followed suit, focusing back onto the metal he was nearly done forming. Silence, excluding the sound of a hammer hitting metal every once and a while, blossomed comfortably between the two. Minutes passed as Hiccup quietly wondered about what his friend had said. To be that old…was it really possible? Hiccup could barely grasp the idea of being the forty-something odd years old that the Elder was; forget trying to even imagine what the passage of a millennium and a half felt like. Hiccup brought his focus back down to his work, hammering at it a few more times before dipping it into the cooling barrel of water.

'There', he thought with a grin, 'now I can give this to him.'

Just as he was about to turn to the dark haired boy and present him with what he'd been working on all day, Toothless spoke up.

"Since you have asked how old I am, it is fair that I ask you as well, yes?"

Hiccup had jumped slightly; he'd grow so use to the semi-quiet of the smithy that he'd been startled.

"Ah, well, I'm not nearly as old as you buddy. I've been alive long enough to see my birth date come and go thirteen times now."

"Are you, as you said, 'pulling my leg'?" Toothless asked.

"No, why would I?" Hiccup asked; face pulling into a slightly amused look.

"It is just…you have already grow so much for such a short amount of time. Do all humans do that? You all start off like a small babe, yes? And you can grow to be as big as you are in only thirteen season changes? That is so quick!"

"Well, actually bud, I'm kind of small for someone my age. But yeah, people do grow up that quickly. I mean, the oldest person Berk's ever seen managed to live to see fifty one summers. But really, enough about that, I made this for you Toothless, hope it meets your fancy." Hiccup said, somewhat ungracefully handing the metal he'd been shaping into a blade for the dark haired boy on and off for over a week.

Toothless dropped the sewing into his lap as the now cool metal was handed to him. He'd seen something like this many times before. Long, iron, hilted, and as sharp as a fang; a sword if he remembered correctly. Toothless looked down at the human instrument and back up to the brow haired boy.

"I thank you for this Hiccup, it is very nice. But what am I to do with it?"

"You may have hundreds of years of experience on me bud, but right now you're just as human as me and you're probably going to need something to protect yourself if the occasion should arise. Now come over here, I'll show you how to sharpen it." Hiccup finished simply, gesturing to the stone wheel in a farther corner of the smithy.

Unbeknownst to Hiccup, Toothless looked down at the blade in his hands, to the back of his retreating friend, and back to the blade and the hand holding it. He examined the digits and nails, his tongue running along his teeth. It was true; humans were not very well equipped to protect themselves. They had no claws, did not grow fur that could keep them safe from the elements, had teeth that were meant for nothing else but gentle grinding; when Toothless thought about it, they were rather fragile, these humans. Hiccup was a perfect example. Flames that had not even managed to harm him at all as a Dragon had cost Hiccup half of one of his appendages.

He looked up yet again towards his friend; his small, young, and very human best friend. Had Hiccup glanced his way at that exact moment, he would have seen that the look on the other boy's face was a mixture of emotions; the most prevalent of them being fear.

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**Author's note: **Shorter one again. But hey, life isn't just always made up of great, big moments right? There're smaller ones in there too, the ones people experience the most often when you think about it. I think it's honestly the small moments in life that can make it so wonderful.

Again, thank you all who reviewed, it's still hard for me to believe that this story has already reached over 100+ reviews. My mind has properly been blown. One reviewer actually asked if I can whistle. The answer to that is that I can indeed whistle, just not as well as I wish I could. I get winded really easily and I'm terrible at hitting higher notes. But, yeah, I can whistle when you get right down to it.


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